Meant To Be
by Muldoon22
Summary: The retelling of how Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers spent the rest of their lives together.


It starts with a look. A simple glance in the other's direction during a debriefing from Fury. A small smile reciprocated with a light smirk. They soon turn away, back towards the director.

It moves to a conversation, as the other Avengers leave the room and the spy runs after the soldier. A simple discussion, how's adjusting to the modern world? He responds with a subtle "getting there." She invites him to join her for lunch. He accepts.

Lunch is comprised of salad and water. They muse that they need to remain in battle-ready condition, so a hamburger or pizza would be out of the question. She asks about Peggy. He tells her she reminds him of her and regales her in a brief biography of his first true live. She listens, interest peaked. As he draws to the end of the story, she sees a sadness in his eyes. She feels his pain and places a hand on one of his in comfort. He flashes her a smile.

* * *

The days afterward, the two build a rapore. Going for walks in the park, partaking in movie nights and going to bars. He persistently tells her getting him drunk was impossible. She replies that she intends to use him to win some contests. Steve polishes off 41 beers, leaving 4 drunks laying on the floor, passed out. She giggles at the sight. He takes note and takes enjoyment in seeing this side of Natasha Romanoff.

Next day a battle ensues in Belarus. A man fires his gun at her. He dives in front, blocking the shot with his shield, then hurling it at the would-be killer. She's taken aback. No one, not even Clint, went out of their way to protect her. In war, it's every man for themself. It's here she realizes he'd risk his life for her.

The same day he went from calling her Ma'am to Natasha.

A week later they begin going out for what would become a daily dinner. He met her at her apartment. He knocks. She answers and takes his breath away: long black dress coupled with sparkling, dangling earrings hidden partially by her short red curls. He praises her appearance, causing the spy to blush. Another thing no one was able to do besides him.

They go out to an Italian place. She orders risotto and him spaghetti. They talk about the mission the week prior. She hesitates before asking why he saved her. He looked surprised. His reply was that he would always put everyone else's life ahead of his, especially her. Never before had she been more flattered.

That night he went from calling her Natasha to calling her Natty. Only he had this privilege.

* * *

Soon the summer flipped into autumn, and then winter. December 1 was the first day of snow. She embraced it with a childlike excitement. He despised its appearance. She is confused for a moment before remembering the seventy years he spent frozen. She takes his hand and informs him she'll get him to like it again.

They spend the day frolicking about in the snow, building a snowman and having snowball fights, the last of these resulting in a foot chase through Central Park, ending with him gently tackling her into an embankment. They're laughing hysterically and she hugs him, calling him her best friend. He smiles and holds her tight.

They spend the days leading up to Christmas attached to the other's hip. The special day arrived and they joined their friends around the Christmas tree Tony had set up in Stark Tower. He bought her a custom made butterfly knife, her initials and symbol engraved in the handle. She smiles brightly at him and eagerly hands him his gift. He opens it to reveal a hand knitted sweater bearing a resemblance to his uniform. Although everyone else slightly grimace, he slides it on and tells her it's great. She places a kiss on his cheek, causing her to glow na deeper red than her own hair color.

* * *

There was mere minutes until midnight. The countdown to 2013. Tony held a massive New Year's party and people were partaking in drinking, talking and dancing. They were amongst the dancers, swaying slowly to the rhythm. Soon, Bruce began counting down. "Ten, Nine, Eight.."

He told her he was happy to be ringing in the new year with her. She tells him the same thing. Bruce was now at five. Four. Three. Steve sucked in his pride and went for it. As Bruce yelled Happy New Year, Steve leaned in and kissed her. The other partyers were cheering loudly and celebrating. She immediately broke off and looked at him, stunned. He realized he crossed a line and let go of her. He apologized and left, leaving her standing by herself while everyone else continued celebrating.

* * *

The snow melted and flowers bloomed. After the New Year incident, Steve stopped hanging out with her. The dinners and movie nights ceased. As the weeks and soon months passed, he went from calling her Natty to Natasha back to Ma'am. They no longer socialized outside of SHIELD. Their close friendship was over. It made him sad, the first few weeks. He felt lost without her and found himself drawing sketches of her, to keep the essence of what they had intact in some way.

She felt her heart break. The hour after Steve left her on the dance floor, she returned to her room and cried herself to sleep, clutching dearly onto a teddy bear Steve had won her at a seasonal carnival. But she reminded herself she was the Black Widow. Steve was just another man who broke her heart. She threw everything that reminded her of him,including the teddy bear and butterfly knife, into a garbage bag and stuffed it into the back of her closet. She resumed her cold persona and went to SHIELD. Like Steve reverting back to calling her ma'am, she returned to just calling him Captain. Their teammates noticed this over the next few months as spring transformed into summer.

Loki had returned with a vengeance, this time with a much stronger army than the Chitauri. As she fought her way through the chaos, she noted Steve tossing his shield at an enemy before running into a building. She returned her focus to a fast moving enemy ship that she leapt onto, not noticing the building Steve was in explode into fiery rubble.

She directed Thor to slam his hammer down on the ship, destroying it. He grabbed her and flew her safely back onto the Helicarrier, where a detained Loki stood. She sat in medical bay, waiting to be given the all clear. As she waited, a ruckus was heard coming towards her. She saw Fury running beside a gurney surrounded by doctors and nurses, with Bruce on top of whoever was being dashed in, performing what appeared to be CPR. As they passed, she noticed the arm of the victim limply dangling off the side of the gurney. She saw it was a red glove connecting to a blue uniform. At this moment her heart both sank and began beating faster. She stood up and followed the gurney to the room it was wheeled into. It was then her worst fears were realized: Steve. Fighting to stay alive. He was coated in blood and grime from the explosion. Bruce barked an order to begin injecting the extra healing serum. She ran in, sobbing and dropping down to her knees, holding onto Steve's hand. Fury attempted to try and remove her, but the look of grief and anger told him to back off and inform the doctors to allow her to stay. A nurse returned and handed Bruce the serum, which he injected into Steve's arm. He exhaled a breathe of relief and told Natasha it was now only a matter of time until he awoke. She thanked him and turned her attention back to Steve.

She sat there, holding his hand for five hours, watching as the wounds on his face disappeared, and the cuts and gashes on his chest fade away. She felt herself drifting to sleep ad finally gave in, not letting go of Steve's hand. Five minutes after she fell asleep, his eyes blinked open. He turned to see her there. "Miss Romanoff?"

Her head shot up instantly. "Steve! You're awake!"

He nodded. "Yeah, I am. Listen, ma'am-"

"Steve, I swear to god if you don't start calling me Natty again, I will finish off what Loki tried to do."

Steve couldn't help but smile. He had his best friend back.

"Steve, I realized today I cannot live without you. Seeing you laying here, clinging for life. It made me feel like such an idiot for letting you walk away from that dance floor."

"I thought it was because you didn't feel for me that way."

"Stop being an idiot." she replied, tears trickling down her face. "It was because I was afraid of getting hurt again."

He straightened up. "You know I would _**never **_do anything to hurt you. Never."

"Then you better damn well keep that promise," she said, crawling onto his bed, "because I'm yours forever."

"Fine with me. Natty." they kissed passionately for hours, and held one another in their arms while they slept.

He is released from the hospital and she brings him back to her floor. She digs into her closet and pulls out the garbage bag, pulling out the teddy bear and the butterfly knife, the two things she held closest, as well as photos of them. She was happy to have kept onto these. She returns to her bedroom, where the soldier sat on the edge of her bed. She smiled at him and slipped off her catsuit, approaching him. She gave him a night of pleasure to seal the deal on their relationship.

* * *

As the years went by he went from calling her Natty to calling her Mrs. Rogers and finally to Love of his Life and Mother of his child. And Steve kept his promise. They spent every last moment of their lives devoted to one another.

_fin_


End file.
